Archive for the ‘ Taking risks ’ Category

Many football fans are screaming this morning because of a bad play-call by the Seattle Seahawks team in this year’s Super Bowl.

If you’re not a football fan, bear with me here.

The call was made to throw a short pass into the end zone for the touchdown score to win the big game.

The best laid plans…

What happened next was the other team, the New England Patriots, intercepted the ball, thus ending the game to their win.

Hindsight is 20/20; however, the Seahawks fans are quite upset that the team did not play it safe and give the ball to their best runner to take it into the end zone for the win.

Disappointment in others often leads to anger when we are let down.

Well, folks, decisions are made constantly, and really, with not knowing what the outcome will be. There is a fifty percent chance that the decision will go your way—and a fifty percent chance the outcome sours against you.

The Seattle fans wanted their team to play it safe, to take the sure thing—-yet, there were no guarantees that that play would have worked either.

I’m not certain of the strategy behind the call to throw versus to run, but I do wonder if Seattle thought New England expected the run, and wanted to surprise and outsmart the Patriots to win the game.

Who is to say the other play wouldn’t have resulted in a turnover as well? Short passes do work, short runs sometimes don’t.

When decisions are made and don’t work, be it in a football (or other sports) game, the game of life, or in your business, the important thing to remember is you did the best you could. You calculated. You planned. You plotted. You executed. You thought all deterrence had been averted. And then

BOOM!

What you do next is get up, regroup, re-plan, re-plot, and re-execute.

What you also do is celebrate the fact you got this far in the first place, and you did your very best.

I really hope the Hawks and especially, Russell Wilson, their quarterback, can focus on the great game he played, and once he found his groove, completed the most amazing passes to his receivers.

That is my hope for you, too, in whatever and all you do. Find your groove. Implement and complete your strategies. Play the best darn game you can!

You may have heard that I launched a new division to my company. The idea was delivered in a true divine inspiration sort of way. I took all the right actions to move forward: purchased the URL, created the Facebook Fan Page, wrote a blog post to announce the arrival, and much more. The launch had been very successful.

What also happened last week was this: I was to give a speech for my local Toastmasters club. The project I’d chosen was from the Storytelling manual, “The Moral of the Story.”

I researched via Google stories on morals; you know, like the Hare and the Tortoise, in that you never want to take your opponent for granted because she may just beat you at your own game.

Finding a few stories that piqued my interest, I never heard of them before; so I’d have to learn the story fast–as it was only a few short hours before my speech! Eek!

You can’t do this! There’s no time left! What are you going to do? You can’t do this!

Yep. That was me. Hard to believe, right? Miss Positivity?

Well, I knew I had to pull it and me together. The voice inside changed.

You can do this! You can write books and posts in record time! You can write a 7-minute speech, for gosh-sakes!!

I then went back to the manual to read the objectives for the speech. It was possible to take a moral and create my own story. And so I did.

The speech was a success. I received laughs and chuckles. But when it came to the moral —– I forgot the words!!!

“It’s one thing to propose, it’s another to execute!”

Amen, Sister! Amen!

To your success,

Comments Off on I can launch a new concept but not write a 7-minute speech?

I had been asked to “talk more about what ‘letting your story go’ looks like,” therefore, below is my response.

It’s been nearly six years since my story happened—one of many. And I thought I was ready to share it and the lessons taught. But when first asked all those years ago to talk about the details and why I felt so strongly in relating my story, I stumbled with the words.

Because of my inability to steadfastly voice my thoughts, feelings, and new-found wisdom, I didn’t come across very convincingly with what I was attempting to convey to the other person who asked the question.

Another time, and during a speaker’s training, I was telling a different story—the one where I had just lost my mother-in-law from a brain hemorrhage. While on stage in the midst of the story, one of the training leaders yelled for me to stop. His words burned, “Who is gonna wanna listen to that?”

Well, of course, I was hurt and devastated; however, I was not deterred. I politely and gracefully received his advice and left the stage.

With the wounds freshly in place, I remember thinking to myself, I will not let this guy who doesn’t know me take away my story—it’s a good story!

As the training progressed, however, the realization set in that that story wasn’t the important one to tell. The better story was the one where after twenty years of loyalty, with the same company, I had been released due to a merger acquisition.

And now, back to the beginning of this post and the inability to tell my story. I not only had trouble relaying the events, but when the time came to share the wisdom gained since, I still couldn’t audibly and intelligently share those pearls.

I was still too close and attached to what transpired. I was still in pain. I was still angry—although I said I really was not. When asked by marketing and business coaches why I wanted to start a business about helping those in transition and what that looked like, I got defensive.

Can’t you see how important it is in helping someone who just lost their job? Don’t you understand that there is a great service I can bring to those who now hurt as I had?

“Let go of your story.”

I don’t know how many times I heard this throughout other trainings I’ve had. But I just couldn’t let the story go; it was a part of me; it shaped who I am today; I do what I do because of that story!

Training is good to receive; however, when conveying a message such as why you should not hold onto your story, especially while building a business around it, is imperative for the student to understand one piece that will change everything.

I hadn’t heard that lesson, or completely missed it if it was presented at all.

Here’s what must be let go: the closeness of the events that ripped your heart out.

Once I distanced myself from feeling the emotional ties that which bound me to the situation, I was better able to discuss the reasons why I wanted to help women succeed after losing a job, or their kids went on to college, or they simply desired a change.

Once I processed the pain, the anger, the loss experienced due to the event, I could stand back and take a really good look—not unlike an out-of-body experience—and see where I needed to go with the business, how to make it all come together.

Do the emotions still arise and take me back to that time? Of course; and it’s expected, and also welcomed. The time remains fresh enough so I can create programs for my clientele to continually help them process their emotions and pain. I am now able to tell my story because I’ve let the pain of the story go.

Letting go takes time and work; it is not an overnight or two- or three-day fix. But if you can go deep within and fully process the hurt, anger, and pain, your story becomes a powerful vehicle to take those you were meant to serve on a journey to heal their wounds.

It’s all about the release and getting free of the chains that bind us.

Before you tell your story, let your story go.

If the words struck a nerve, I’d love to hear how in the comments below. If you feel others may benefit from this post, please share via the social media buttons below.

As an entrepreneur or business owner, what have you accomplished? Meaning, how successful have you been launching a product or service? Have you made hundreds of dollars? Thousands? You’re on track for the coveted 7-figure business?

If you’re not making the money you want, perhaps you need to break free from your current model and/or partners. They may be the very thing that is holding you back!

If you were on your own, what would you do? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

The best part of being a writer is to create your own reality in your own world using your own words.

During a flight where blessed to have been seated in First Class, the woman next to me verbally displays her displeasure at the temperature of the cabin. I can understand her reality. It was a bit warm.

What I do is to make every attempt to change up my thinking when an unpleasant situation arises.

“I am fine. I am cool (in more ways than one!). I am calm. I am collected. I am blessed.”

You don’t hear many people these days share how grateful they are to fly the friendly skies. However, you do not hear that from me. As a writer, I am forever grateful at the ever-producing fodder that my fellow passengers offer up.

I look out my window and see the mountain ranges of Pennsylvania—they are a beautiful deep green, with pointed peaks and valleys between them. I relish the beautiful sights at 27,000 feet below my ship; the wispy white clouds hanging over the mountains, following a path of their own making.

“…following a path of their own making.”

Do you have a path that you follow? Is it one of your own making or is it of someone else’s idea of what you should do? I’d love to hear about your experience, so please share below!

What do you think of the design? I’m not certain of the pink flowery spinners for the date holder; however, I really like everything else about it!

Today was a really productive day for me… I attribute that along with yesterday’s productivity success by being back in routine. Waking early, dressing and going for a walk, meditation upon return, only perusing email, and then settling in to write, create, or develop the most important item(s) for the day.

I declared to add at least one component daily to the website for this week and today I completed three: the opt-in form, the file for viewing or download, and this post. Pretty. Darn. Cool.

Even though I’m technically brilliant (really close to it anyway—ahem), new programs are a fun challenge to me. WordPress will be exceptionally so; however, if I can learn to navigate the behind-the-scenes of Linux operating system, I can conquer blogging programs.

Tomorrow will be another productive day: my stove will get fixed so I can cook and bake again!

I still have plug-ins to upload for commentators, so perhaps those will get activated tomorrow, too.

What new things are you trying? Did you know that when you learn new things that new brain cells are created? Pretty amazing stuff all around us.